What is Your Perspective?

It's all about perspective. The sinking of the Titanic was a miracle to the lobsters in the ship's kitchen.

According to Google, this was a joke told by someone on Twitter. The point of the joke is that life is all about perspective. There are those that see the glass half full and those that see the glass half empty. Which are you? As children of God, the bible says in this world we will face tribulation; when we face tribulation, what perspective do we see things through. The inspiration for this message came while I was listening to a message by Steven Furtick titled The Lazarus Factor (God of the Outcome). 

In life, it is important that we have the right perspective in every situation. It is in having the right perspective that we are able to have faith regardless of the situation. In Rom. 8:28, the bible says 'all things are working for my good'. But how does one believe that when they've just lost a loved one or an opportunity? How does one believe that when the appointed time is still tarrying (Hab. 2:3)? The odd part of Hab. 2:3 is that in the same verse, it says: though it tarries and ends with it will not tarry. Weird much! The only way out of the conundrum that is this verse is to have the right perspective. You can either have the perspective that the vision is tarrying or you can have the perspective that it isn't yet the appointed time and when it is the appointed time, it will not tarry. Now let's get back to the story about Lazarus and Martha's perspective. 

While the title of the message makes it seem that the focus of the message would have been about Lazarus, nothing could be farther from the truth. While Lazarus was mentioned, his sister, Martha was mentioned quite frequently. It was Martha that went to meet Jesus at the gate it was Martha that Jesus asked if she believed and it was also Martha that responded when Jesus asked for the stone to be rolled away. So, let's visit Act 1 Scene 1 of the movie titled The Death of Lazarus. In the first scene, we are introduced to the characters as they send a messenger to Jesus to tell Him that the one whom He loved was sick. See the angle they used, the one whom Jesus loved. This was meant to make Jesus hurry up to their town and heal him. What did Jesus do? He stayed for two more days! When He finally arrived at Martha's town, she marched straight to Him at the gate and..."Now Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died (John 11:21 NKJV)". First of all, even though it seemed like the appointed time had tarried she still saw Him as Lord. It is very important that regardless of the situation, our perspective on Jesus as our Lord and Savior should not change. And for Martha, even though she had just lost her brother, she still saw Him as Lord and then went a step further to say that she knows that whatever she asks of God, God will give her. She still believed!

As we go through life, it is important that we keep the right perspective. The right perspective is the one that still believes, the one that sees Jesus as our Lord and Savior. The one that believes that at the appointed time, it will not tarry. One person that came to my mind as I wrote this post is Horatio Spafford. He wrote one of the most influential songs ever 'It is well'. He wrote the song as his ship (yeah it was that long ago) sailed past the spot where the vessel that carried his wife and four daughters sank. Only his wife survived and she sent him a telegram with two, now famous, words "Saved alone". All this happened to him while he tried to recover from the losses to his business as a result of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. His perspective to all these events was 'It is well with my soul'. As Joel Osteen wrote in today’s devotional 'Delivered From All': When it feels as though you’re far behind, outnumbered, outsized and outclassed, instead of being discouraged, have a new perspective. What is your perspective?

P.S.

When peace like a river, attendeth my way,

When sorrows like sea billows roll;

Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to know

It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Reckless Love

It's been a month since we published an article, so sorry it has taken so long. Thanks to everyone that has messaged to ask when next I would post on my blog. You are very much appreciated. If this blog was a house, it would be covered with a layer of dust so thick, it would take a team of professionals to clean it out. But with God, nothing is impossible. This post is the first of two articles that I have being led to write about. 

The title of the post Reckless Love is of course picked from the great song of the exact same title. As I listened to the words of the song in full blast it kept resonating within me. Somewhere in the song, you hear talk of the overwhelming, never-ending reckless love of God. A love so strong that no obstacle is too great for Him to overcome. A love so reckless that it is willing to leave the ninety-nine just to look for you (Matt. 18:12). This makes the popular proverb 'a bird in hand is worth three in the bush' look silly. Imagine God loving you so much that He is willing to leave not one but ninety-nine just to enter the bush to look for one. As the bible says, God uses the silly things of the world to confound the wise. You can be sure He has achieved this multiple times and just because of His love for you, He did exactly the opposite of the ‘wise saying’. One of such great times can be found in John 3:16:  For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. How reckless! God loves us so much that He took such a reckless decision and sacrificed His only son without any guarantee that those whom He sacrificed His son for would love Him back. A version of this action was first recorded in the Old Testament when God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac (Gen. 22:1-19). Abraham loved God so recklessly that he would have completed the act had he not been stopped by God. All God wanted to know was how much Abraham loved and trusted Him. 

As you think of these actions, imagine what was going through Paul's mind when he tried to make sense of the action (Rom. 5:7). An action He took without the guarantee that we would love Him back. An action so reckless that nothing we can ever do will earn it back. Some of us have done pretty reckless things for love. So please share either in the comment section or privately to me on WhatsApp:

• What is the most reckless thing you've done for love?
• What is the most reckless thing you've done for God? 

One thing I can definitely tell you is that God loves you (Rom. 5:8) and there is nothing you can do to change that fact! No crime, no amount of drugs or substance addiction will change that fact! How do I know? He gave up His only begotten son-not for someone else to adopt or raise-but-to die. God loves you and will do anything for you. 

The charge is simple, believe in Him (...that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life) and if you think you don’t matter, Jesus (through a parable) told us exactly what happens in heaven when one person returns to Him (Luke 15:3-7). If you want to return to Him or if this is your first time, just ask Him to be your Lord and Savior and invite Him into your life. He is literally standing at the door of your life at this exact moment waiting for you to invite Him in (Rev. 3:20).

Photo Cred: Reckless Love